It has been months since the last time I blogged. But I can't think of a better reason to start back. This past week, Gabe and I have been overwhelmed by the prayers and support we received from family and friends and even people we have never met before. I wish I was able to personally tell every single person thank you. I wanted to share with those of you who were praying what happened last week and where we are now. Be warned that this is super long...
The last few weeks have been rough. All three babies (and mommy) have been sick which equals a lot of pajama days at home. I was feeling pure sorry for myself. A little stir crazy and slightly overwhelmed by the everyday life of raising three under three. In the midst of all the sickness and feeling sorry for myself my perspective on my life was changed in an instant.
We woke up last Monday morning to Addie Kate running a low fever. I gave her motrin and it went down. A little while later her temp started going back up and I couldn't get it to break. I called her doctor and made an appointment. Her temperature kept rising, getting up to 104.5. Gabe got home and I got her to the doctor as fast as I could. By the time I got her to her pediatrician her temperature was back down. Her pediatrician checked her out and everything looked good. He suggested it may just be a virus and so we were headed home. On our way out Addie Kate was getting a prize out of the prize box for being good and she sort of stumbled. She didn't fall, she just stumbled. It scared her (and me) and I picked her up. All the while her pediatrician was watching. He asked if she could get down and try and walk. She stumbled again.
He then asked if he could run a few more tests because something didn't seem right. He checked her blood pressure and blood sugar and everything looked good. He then asked her to walk for him again. She stumbled a third time. She had never done this before. My heart sank.
He then called a pediatric neurologist and we were headed to the hospital.
When we got to the hospital, Addie Kate was still running fever and was a little lethargic but by the end of the evening her fever was gone, she was eating, and was back to herself. Around this time we met with the neurologist and he had her walk and do several other exercises for him. She didn't stumble and even jumped for him. He told us she looked "perfect" but he was going to go ahead with the MRI just to be on the safe side (they were checking for side effects from her high fever).
They brought her back for the MRI around 10:00 Monday night. She did great. She didn't have to be sedated and was still for the entire MRI. She really was so brave.
By this time, Gabe and I were feeling pretty confident that we would be taking Addie Kate home the next morning.
The next morning while I was driving back to the hospital from Starbucks and I got a call from Gabe that I needed to hurry, the peditrician needed to meet with me. I knew in his voice that it wasn't good. I instantly starting crying. When I got to the the hospital Gabe and the pediatrician were waiting to meet with me. The pediatrician was sitting at a computer looking at images of Addie Kate's brain. He showed me an image of a mass that they had found. I was in shock. I couldn't wrap my mind around what was happening.
Gabe and I started making phone calls to family and tried to get it together before we walked back in to see Addie Kate (we agreed that we did not want her to see us upset). It was such a blessing having people from church stopping by to visit; she was having fun and barely noticed that Gabe and I were in and out of the room, trying to keep it together.
Soon after we got the news about the mass we were told that an ambulance was on the way from Egleston. So I headed home to pack for the entire family for an indefinite amount of time. I was a mess. I walked in the front door wishing that it was a pajamas day with me and the babies and that life would just go back to 'normal'.
Addie Kate did great on the ambulance ride. I was able to ride in the ambulance but had to ride up front. I was able to watch her on a screen and she could talk to me. She played bubbles, got her hair braided, colored, and entertained us all(I can't say enough good things about the everyone we met at Egleston, including the paramedics).
When we got to the hospital we met with an Oncologist and a Pediatric Neurosurgeon. They scheduled a more intensive MRI for the next morning and then we would meet again. Addie Kate was still doing really well, she did keep telling us she wanted to go home and see her "Owie" but other than that she was just wanting to play in the playroom on her floor. She didn't let her IV slow her down at all.
Her second MRI was not as smooth as the first. She had to be sedated because it was going to take about an hour and fifteen minutes. Her IV had to be redone before they sedated her and it took four times before they got it to take. It was torture for Gabe and I. Even through all of this, she was still just wanting to play.
It wasn't long after her second MRI that we met with her two doctors again and they were very positive about the results. One of her doctors called it a tumor; the other doctor said she would prefer to call it a mass. The mass is non-operable which means it can never be biopsied. They did agree that it did not look like cancer and that right now the mass is not causing any harm to Addie Kate (she is asymptomatic). They also agreed that the fever and the stumbling had no correlation with the mass (they were just a way for them to find it). From there we discussed what our next step is. We will come back in six weeks for another MRI so they can watch the mass. They will continue MRIs for many years to come.
Our prayer right now is that there is no growth when we go back in six weeks and more than that, that the mass is gone. Our heart is to not live in fear as we enter in this new season of life. This is requiring a whole new level of faith for both Gabe and I. We are continually reminding each other that Addie Kate was a daughter of God before she was ever our daughter. That he loves her more than we do. That he is sovereign and he is GOOD. Even in the midst of the scariest moment of my life, I was overwhelmed by a peace and a truth that God is good.
Life has been sweet this past week. That may sound crazy but I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am to just be home. How grateful I am for the little things. I am watching God use a negative experience to do a new work in my heart and in my life and for that I am grateful. Please continue to pray for our sweet girl and we will keep you posted on how she is doing:)
